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From 6-11 July 2025, Tristen Gwynn (Quantum@SUN PhD student) and I (Dhiya Dharampal, Quantum@SUN Masters student) attended the 15th International High Performance Computing (HPC) Summer School in Lisbon, Portugal, where we enjoyed an incredible week filled with parallel programming, Pastéis de Nata and wonderful company from all over the world. The week consisted of introductory sessions on parallel programming using OpenMP for both CPUs and GPUs, followed by lectures covering Python for HPC, software engineering practices, machine learning in HPC, scientific visualisation, and so many more exciting topics in HPC.
We also participated in the mentoring programme where we were assigned a mentor to guide us through the week, by helping us decide on which lectures are most beneficial for our research needs, and to also offer us advice on prospective career choices in the HPC domain. During the poster sessions, we each had the opportunity to present a one minute lightning talk on our research and to display the corresponding electronic poster, while also utilising the time to converse with other students about their research. One of the most exciting parts of the school was the “Future of HPC” panel discussion, where quantum computing sparked some of the most engaging conversations.
We were sure to use this summer school as an opportunity to connect with fellow early-career researchers from a wide range of scientific disciplines, all of whom shared a common thread in their use of, or contributions to HPC. Our evenings were spent either exploring the stunning city of Lisbon together or tackling the voluntary programming challenge, which proved both fun and intellectually rewarding. On one of these evenings, all the participants of the school enjoyed a boat cruise where we took in the breathtaking views of Lisbon and, following the cruise, went to Museu da Cerveja (a beer museum) to indulge in a lively dinner.
This school provided a comprehensive introduction to parallel programming and the fundamentals of HPC and we look forward to applying our newly acquired skills to our research here in Quantum@SUN and staying in touch with our fellow participants from the summer school. We also extend our gratitude to the organisers, mentors, and presenters who made this such a well-rounded and intellectually stimulating experience.
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